


Kidnapping (TM)

by GoringWriting



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Family, Avengers Tower, Awesome Phil Coulson, Bombs, Ceiling Vent Clint Barton, Crushes, Domestic Avengers, Kidnapped Tony Stark, Kidnapping, Kissing, M/M, POV Phil Coulson, Phil Coulson Has the Patience of a Saint, Protective Jarvis (Iron Man movies), Protective Phil Coulson, The Avengers Are Good Bros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:14:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28474494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoringWriting/pseuds/GoringWriting
Summary: Coulson knows he has feelings for Tony. But he can't seem to tell the other man that, afraid he will be rejected. However, a kidnapping might be just the motivation he needs to confess his feelings to the man he loves.
Relationships: Phil Coulson/Tony Stark
Comments: 3
Kudos: 89
Collections: Marvel Trumps Hate 2019





	Kidnapping (TM)

Phil Coulson would like to say that in his many years as an Agent of SHIELD he’s seen a lot of things. And he has, he has seen thralls, sirens, HIVE, Hydra’s reveal, Bucky Barnes being alive, and more things than he will ever be able to count on his hand. Not all of them good, not all of them bad. 

The one thing he has never seen is the kitchen on the 23rd floor of Avenger’s Tower looking like a tornado hit it. 

He can’t even begin to put together what could have possibly happened here. There’s orange juice on the walls. At least he hopes that’s orange juice and not some weird kind of alien blood because he may love Fitzsimmons, but he is not in the right frame of mind to have to deal with the paperwork any of the experiments they might consider running would cause. He’s jetlagged, his neck hurts, and his knee is twinging, and he is in no mood to deal with this. 

There’s…pancake batter? On the ceiling. He’s not sure how it got there but he’s sure that Miss Potts is going to have a meltdown when she sees that. There’s also jam dripping down the walls and is that a broken window? How did a bunch of ADULT superheroes manage to cause this much chaos? He’s dealt with villains who caused less of a mess than this. 

If he didn’t know for a fact that Loki was off world at this particular moment, he’d think that Loki had snuck into the kitchen, trashed it and then left the Avengers to deal with the mess and the fallout.

But Loki is still off world dealing with, yet another issue caused by the Aether and the reality stone. 

He checked.

Multiple times.

Maybe it was Barnes…but the man hadn’t done much in his short time with the Avengers it was surprisingly Rogers dragging him into pranks to help boost morale. 

Coulson suspects he just likes annoying Tony. 

But no. he knows that Barnes is helping train some of the new recruits at SHIELD. So, he isn’t here even if he would do it without Rogers. 

However, he doesn’t think this is a prank because you can be sure that the original residents of the tower would kill them if they saw this and found out it was intentional. Phil hopes they will be able to clean this up before Miss Potts and Colonel Rhodes arrive. He knows Tony won’t be too upset with the mess. Phil has seen some of the damage he has done before and while that was bad enough, knowing the reasons behind the mess had been even more unnerving to Phil, not that he has any idea why. He wasn’t even this worried when Captain America was facing down Loki in Germany. 

Maybe he should focus on dealing with what these are, but he never has time. He is always either going on missions for SHIELD or working on coordinating the Avengers with what SHIELD needs them to do. 

“What happened here?” Phil asks when he finally finds his voice and all heads in the room. Natasha, Clint, Rogers, and Thor’s turn to look at him with an eerie synchronization that makes Phil feel like he should ask JARVIS instead. The AI had been more than willing to help him in the past, even if he still gave Fury and Natasha a hard time. 

His question causes several people to start trying to explain and all the overlapping voices give him a headache. 

“One at a time!” he barks immediately making the room fall silent. Phil takes a deep breath and looks over all of them.

“Okay, Rogers. Care to tell me what happened here?” Phil asks trying to not wring their necks. How can some of the world’s biggest heroes act like such…such children. And here he thought Daisy had been bad when she first joined his team.

Coulson watches the leader of the team bunch over a bit. 

“Well, Thor was making poptarts and I was making pancakes. Bruce was pouring himself orange juice. Clint thought it would be a good idea to drop out of the vent to try and scare Nat. It didn’t work. I don’t know why he thought it would, but this is where it got us. He scared Bruce who spilled orange juice everywhere including the toaster. Which ruined the poptarts,” Rogers says and a mushed…something falls from the ceiling onto his head and Coulson doesn’t even blink and just turns and walks out of the room. 

He’s had enough. 

When he gets into the elevator and presses the button to go to the lobby the elevator goes right past it and through several of the regular lab floors. 

“JARVIS?”

“Do not be alarmed Agent. Mr. Stark wishes to speak with you, and this was the quickest way,” The AI says and Coulson watches as labs pass and he can see Banner working away in his lab listening to music on his headphones. Probably to calm down after what happened. 

“Ah Agent!” He hears the minute the doors of the elevator open and Coulson sees Tony standing there covered in a thin tank top and Coulson never realized how much muscle Tony actually has.

Not that that matters. 

It doesn’t. 

No really it doesn’t. 

“Mr. Stark…JARVIS said you wanted to speak with me,” Coulson says. 

“Oh, well I saw you discover the kitchen. I was just going to go out and get some breakfast and wanted to know if you wanted to join me or for me to bring me back anything.”

“No, thank you but I’ve already eaten. I was merely looking for the them to speak with them about additional training and lessons. However, I think I will merely send a packet of suggestions to Agent Romanov. It seems like they’ll be a bit preoccupied with cleaning before Miss Potts arrives for that press conference you have today. 

“Oh yeah. Pepper will make them cry if they see that. Honestly, I’m hoping to get that on tape. Reindeer Games has been teaching her to throw knives and Robo Cop helped her find heels with a deadly point on them.”

Coulson feels a migraine coming on. The idea of Miss Potts being trained for combat is slightly worrying. 

Terrifying if he thinks about it long enough. 

“So, it’s a no to breakfast?” Tony asks and Coulson nods. 

“Sorry I have a lot of things to be doing. I’ll be back later in the day to go over the packet I will send to Romanov. Do you have any suggestions?”

“Pointbreak definitely needs more lessons on how to interact with Earthlings. Dr. Foster is doing her best, but they keep getting distracted. Robo Cop won’t admit it, but he wants to lean about sports. Reindeer games seems to be fine with humans, but he definitely needs a therapist. Spangles needs a couple of history lessons. I am getting Legolas a dog. This is not up for debate. Not even Pepper can talk me out of it. Brucey is doing okay but he could use maybe lessons on Zen gardening or something else peaceful,” Tony says and Coulson blinks. Not even Natasha had been able to tell him this much. 

“Thank you. Are you heading out now?”

“Yes. Wanna walk with me?”

“I will walk you outside I have to hurry back to SHIELD for training.”

“Got to make sure the baby agents don’t burn the house down,” Tony jokes and Coulson allows his mouth twitch up into a smile. But he doesn’t let it get too big because then Tony will get insufferable if he sees him smiling. 

On the way up and through the lobby they don’t talk about anything of substance. Tony just seems to want to fill the silence. 

Coulson lets him. There’s no harm in letting the man keep talking. Maybe if he can tire Tony out, he can ensure a nice easy meeting today. Although with the sheer amount of coffee the man consumes, that seems unlikely to ever happen. Coulson watches Tony turn right towards the line of shops a few streets over and Coulson gets into the van he was using to head back to SHIELD. 

He spends the time back in his office wondering what would have happened if he had gone with Tony to breakfast. He’s always suspected that the man would be interesting outside of his Tony Stark persona. He’s seen it. When Tony is close to death or too tired to put on a mask, or when he’s alone with Colonel Rhodes, Miss Potts, Mr. Hogan, or his bots. 

He hates when Tony puts the mask on but it’s an unfortunate part of being in the superhero situation. No hero keeps their old personality under the stress, danger, and responsibility that comes with the self-imposed duty. Even Coulson himself is a different man when he first started with SHIELD after his first few missions, he noticed himself becoming more and more suspicious of things and being more and more afraid of things that were happening and the things he still didn’t know. Afraid of the things only Fury had clearance to know and no one else. 

It terrified him. 

What could be so dangerous that only the head of SHIELD could know about it, and if it really is that dangerous could Coulson actually handle knowing about it. 

Coulson shakes these thoughts off. SHIELD is working on transparency and he himself has been working on actual preventative measures that would prevent the things he needs to be afraid of. With Loki, surprisingly, he’s been ensuring diplomacy and other things. No more waking weapons out of things they don’t understand. He’s learned that lesson already. 

He packs up his paperwork and heads back to the Tower and when he arrives, he considers going down to see Tony before he goes to the press conference, but he decides not to and he enters the kitchen, happy to see it clean. Miss Potts will definitely be happy about there no longer being a mess in there…

On second thought, given the look on her face as she steps out of the elevator, he’s certain that nothing will sate her anger. But he has no idea why she would be so angry. The kitchen is clean, the press conference is on track and the weather is lovely. 

“Has anyone seen Tony? He promised he wouldn’t miss this press conference,” she says, and the others look up from their various positions around the common room and kitchen. Before they all share a look. 

“He was heading over to get breakfast somewhere earlier when I was here. He didn’t seem to imply that he was going to miss the conference,” Coulson says. Although there really is no sign to when Tony will duck out on meetings and conferences. If he doesn’t feel like doing something he just won’t. Trying to predict when he would do it is like trying to predict the weather before meteorology. 

“I saw the two of them leave but I didn’t see Tony return, I assumed he was either taking a nap or getting ready to face the press,” Bruce says. 

“JARVIS where’s Tony?” Miss Potts asks.

“He did not return here. His phone is in the 59th street Deli, however.”

“Why would he go so far away?”

“I have a bad feeling about this you guys. Tony hates walking places. He wouldn’t walk that far and he’s not the type to take a cab or bus. He hasn’t been back here in nearly three hours. This definitely isn’t like Tony. JARVIS, have you tried calling him?” Banner asks. 

“Straight to voicemail Dr. Banner,” JARVIS says. 

“Miss Potts I’m afraid it seems Mr. Stark has been kidnapped. I need you to keep the conference as scheduled so as to not make then think we are aware of the nefarious reason for him having gone missing. It will buy us time if they think we don’t realize he’s missing. JARVIS I’m going to need your help. I know Mr. Stark has a tracker in his skin that only you can track and that only you are supposed to know about. Don’t ask me how I know. It’s my job to know secrets but my only question is, can this help us find him and what do you need to use it?”

“I need the permission of two people Miss Potts, Colonel Rhodes or Mr. Hogan. Any combination is allowed and in cases of them being kidnapped along with them I am allowed to use my own judgement as to whether such extreme measures are necessary.

“Why so few people?” Romanov asks. 

“Mr. Stark designed this to prevent another Afghanistan event. It is only to be used in the most extreme of circumstances. Miss Potts, Colonel Rhodes, and Mr. Hogan all had experience with the event and the need for this program. Ergo they are the only ones with permission.”

“Get Colonel Rhodes or Mr. Hogan on the phone to give permission and then send the coordinates to my phone. I’ll do recon on the location and then we’ll have a team ready for infiltration and extraction. Avengers I want you ready in case we need backup, Dr. Banner make sure the medical staff is prepared for him to arrive. He’ll be fighting tooth and nail to get out of there before we can even get him in the medbay, but he is going to be checked over,” Coulson says and he goes back to his van, he should have never separated from Tony. Looking back, he can remember that the man didn’t have the wristbands to summon his suit. He should have stuck around, should have walked with him and say with him. He knows what a magnet for trouble Tony is. He should have stayed with him made sure nothing happened or at least so Tony wouldn’t have to go through this alone. His feelings for the man are no secret from himself. He is as aware of his interest in the man as he is of the weather and anything else. 

He never told the man. After everything that happened. When he was dying, Coulson’s own fake death, though technically not fake. Their lives aren’t necessarily compatible. But… after all this it might be a time for reevaluation. They both deserve a chance to know. Tony to know someone wants to be with him and Coulson to know if he has a shot at having his interest returned. 

A quick check at the deli reveals Tony’s phone shoved in the back of the chip aisle in between two shelves and Coulson slides the phone into his pocket and then asking to check the security footage. He sees two men walk in go straight to where the phone was before leaving almost immediately. 

Coulson sends the footage to Hill to have it examined and he manages to make it back to his office in SHIELD in enough time to get the teams ready just in time for his phone to hear the ping of the text JARVIS just sent him with the address of Tony’s tracker. It’s in Queens right over the Ed Koch Bridge. 

“Recon team with me now! The rest of you remain behind us and be ready to move on my signal. Mr. Stark will be returning today if we can. I want everyone to be on high alert because we have an unknown threat. Could be anyone from Hydra to a weapons dealer. Hopefully recon will be able to tell us this, what their numbers are, and what weapons they have. Let’s move,” Coulson says, and they move to the vehicles and get strapped in and they are on their way to a rundown area in Queens full of abandoned buildings.

The one Tony is in seems to be a partially gutted old storage facility. They’re probably holding him in one of the old units. Easy to lock and hard to get into…but this is Tony Stark, there’s no way anyone would ever trust in in anything short of the most advanced prison cell. He’s not even sure the Raft could hold him, if he didn’t want to be held. 

Which is what worried Coulson. If Tony is still in there that means that he either can’t get out, which means he’s injured, or these guys are bigger fish than the location suggests, or, Tony is staying because he has a reason to stay and that’s the even scarier options because what on earth would make Tony stay with his kidnappers, the threat must be pretty major. 

This brainstorming does nothing to calm Coulson down it just works him up more and he needs to see that Tony is okay and alive. 

He watches the building for over four hours. The sun is staring to go down. All he’s seen all day is two men, Coulson couldn’t see their faces. Leave the building at different times with a pizza and then Chinese takeout. 

They must be hired hands because no way would professionals do that. Especially with Tony Stark as a hostage. 

Coulson makes the decision to move in just as the sun dips low in the sky. He wants Tony home and in bed by midnight if possible. 

There’s not much in the way of security as they make their way inside. No one keeping a look out. Were the two people the only ones here? What sort of operation is this? They make their way up to the second floor and they see two men at the end of the hall and begin to make their way over. Neither one of them seems to hear them and Coulson is about to hit one on the back of the head when a voice calls out. 

‘Agent! Don’t hurt them. They’re just a couple of kids trying to make money for college,” Tony says, and Coulson turns, and the two boys immediately drop to the ground hands in the hair. Tony is sitting on a chair, hands cuffed behind him. When it’s clear Coulson isn’t going to hit them, Tony slips his arms out of the cuffs holding him to the chair. 

“Don’t ever scare me like that again. I thought you were in danger,” Coulson says cupping the man’s face, professionalism be damned he kisses him. 

“What…”

“Tony, I’m in love with you. Have been for a long time. But it wasn’t professional. But screw being professional. I thought I lost you and I can’t let that happen without knowing if I could ever have a shot with you.”

“I’ll give you an answer later after we deal with the fact that we didn’t do a good enough job getting rid of HYDRA in SHIELD because one of your agents just planted a bomb and we need to get out of here before it explodes,” Tony says and Coulson immediately shifts into agent mode, as Daisy likes to call it and they each grab one of the wannabe kidnappers and they start to hustle to the doors. Making it out of the building just as it explodes and Coulson wants nothing more than to cover Tony and keep him protected but his duty is to the civilians first and so he rolls on top of one of the kidnappers and keeps his head down. 

“Everyone okay?” Coulson demands when everything is calmed down and they all call out that they are. 

Except for Tony. 

“Tony! Report!” 

“Fine! Kid is fine too,” he says, and they haul the kids to their feet.

“So, who wants to tell me what happened?”

‘They’re in high school and aren’t doing so well and they don’t want to end up with no prospects in the future so they were going to ransom be back for the money they would then use to pay for college. I heard them complaining about their trig homework and a few other things and was able to piece it together. They were just about to send the ransom note when you guys busted in. I can only assume our slimy friend thought to take advantage and blow us up when we were alone,” Tony says. 

“That’s right! We didn’t know anything about a bomb. Please don’t put us in jail! We weren’t going to hurt anyone. We didn’t even have weapons!” The kids say and immediately begin too turn out their pockets to show him. 

“I’m not going to press charges. However, you two, if you can get your grades up by let’s say September of senior year. Not asking for As, just show me some improvement. I’ll pay to get you into your choice school. And if you need help, contact me or Miss Potts and we’ll put you in touch with some decent tutors,” Tony says as the kids run off the minute they’re no longer being held. 

“That was very kind of you Tony,” Coulson says. 

“Well throwing them in prison didn’t feel right. I mean, if would screw whatever college chances they originally had. Mess with employment abilities in the future. And haunt them for the rest of their lives. They’re kids and I was never actually afraid for my life. I originally thought it was a prank. But I can’t be the thing that ruins their lives you know? All they needed was a little help and support to get where they want to go. So that’s what I’m going to do.”

Coulson thinks this over and before he can say anything else, he feels the soft press of lips to his own. 

“What was that?”

“A kiss.”

“Why?”

“Well you did say you liked me, and I thought a kiss would be a good way to tell you that I like you too,” Tony says. 

“Really?”

“Yeah you…” Coulson doesn’t let him finish the sentence instead he presses their lips together. 

This time the kiss is stronger and longer. 

It’s amazing.


End file.
